Less than Twelve Parsecs

One day before her first birthday, Mara said her first word that was two distinct syllables. Two days before, Daddy had lifted her high in the air so that she could reach two gorgeous apples in our apple tree. She picked them herself off the branches. The look of satisfaction on her face was priceless, as she was holding both apples in her arms. For an idea of the scale, it looked like a grown up person holding two giant watermelons - must have taken quite an effort. Back to "Milestone Day before Birthday": Mara decided for the first time to steadily walk for longer than five steps. She took four steps and reached a garden hose; then she stared at the new obstacle in front of her. Daddy came closer and moved the hose out of the way, after which she continued walking. She did several walks like this, seven steps or more, over the course of the next ten minutes. When we finally got our cameras ready she was already tired. Half an hour later, we all go indoors. Mo

We went to a friend's 1st birthday party this weekend, and met some wonderful people. The conversation went to how the mom never shows up in the photos because she's the one remembering to take them usually, and we had the great idea of actually taking group family photos! Here is Mara held by Daddy on the way to the event, all shy and cautious but comforted with mommy's old hat. I guess we can declare this comfy hat some sort of 'family heirloom' passed on to the next generation.

At every health checkup for Mara the nurse measures her head-to-toe to keep track of her height. It's always a challenge to get her stretched out on the table the right way because she will arch and stretch to look at what you're doing. The nurses have their tricks: measuring from some midpoint to foot first, then the upper side and adding up the two. Even so, there's need for a second measurement about once every three visits. Once Mara could turn and go on her fours, the game turned even harder. I can't even imagine how they are going to convince her in a few weeks at the next checkup. In the meantime, we decided to try it ourselves on the vertical axis. Our friend Eileen gave us this very cute growth chart for Mara (thank you!!) and we hung it on a wall in the center of our house. Mara's enthusiasm when it comes to markers has some limits, but those limits are far beyond the horizon. Really, she turns into an instant grabbing machine on sight of any